In your Faith

Turn with me this morning to Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Paul is writing to the church at Rome and he's letting them know, first of all, who he is, and chapter 1, verses 1 through 7.

And then he's telling them not only who he is, the messenger and who he is, but then he goes on in those first eight verses and he tells them that his message, and that's the grace of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then, starting at verse 8, he begins to let them know not only who he was and what his message was, but how the saints, the Christians, ought to live.

And then when you go over to 1 Corinthians 11, 1, Paul even makes this profound statement.

He says, follow me as I follow Christ.

And basically in verses 8 through 13, and by the way, does everyone have a worship guide?

Everyone, anybody need a worship guide?

It's got the outline for you if you need it.

Right there, raise your hands.

I want to make sure you have one.

And then he goes on and he says, I want to share with you after he says, explains who he is and what his message is.

And then he says, Here's the product of my message.

Once you become a Christian, once you become an ambassador for Christ, a messenger for Christ, which he has explained, that's who he was, a messenger, then explained his message, the grace of God.

And then he says, here is what ought to be exemplary in your life.

It ought to be an example in your life.

And he goes on, and in these, this next paragraph in the scripture, he gives us nine traits.

And today as we look at those traits, in fact, let me tell you something.

Some of the greatest preaching, and I had the privilege of sitting under some of the greatest men of God, working with some of the greatest men of God.

Dr.

John Rollins, uh B uh, B.

R.

Lakin, uh Adrian Rogers.

Uh Adrian and I became very good friends when he'd come to Liberty.

I've heard the greatest of the greatest preach at Liberty University.

But my mentor was Dr.

Falwell, and I flew all over the world with him.

And once a week I'd be with him going somewhere, and a lot of times preaching with him.

And his life spoke volumes to me more than any classroom.

Even though the classrooms were great.

But to see Christianity lived out in practicality and in real life, there's no greater example than that.

And that's why Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.

He wasn't saying following him, he was saying follow the Christ-likeness that he exemplifies.

So this morning, I want us to compare.

Because remember, he describes who he is, and then he gives the message, and then he gives basically his life as an example, and that example is seen right here in chapter, I mean in chapter 1, verses 8 through 13.

So let's get started and let's see what Paul said.

First of all, Paul said in verse 8, and look at verse 8, and it's powerful.

He says, and I love it, he says, first, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.

That's why I know Paul was a southerner.

Sorry.

Northerns.

He's a southerner.

Y'all.

Yeah.

But then he goes on and he says that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

Powerful statement right there.

He's talking to the Roman Christians, even though he had not been there yet.

He's saying to them, Oh my goodness, I haven't even come there.

I haven't even preached there.

I haven't even done any kind of missionary work there.

But everywhere I go, I'm hearing people talk about you and your walk and your testimony with God.

I thought to myself, wow.

So number one, every Christian should be thankful for those Christians that have had an impact in your life.

I was going through, I was reminiscing this morning early and all week, people who live Jesus in front of me.

And I thought about, first of all, the person that lives Jesus more than anybody in my life is my wife.

I am so thankful for my beautiful, godly woman.

She makes me look bad.

I meant she hardly ever does anything wrong.

And I'm always stumbling over doing things wrong.

That's not a place to say amen, Lanny.

My watch, excuse me, says I've fallen again.

I get excited, and my watch says I fall.

But but but I am so thankful for Susan.

But I'm thankful for Dr.

Jerry Falwell.

I'm thankful for Dr.

Dr.

Ron Hawkins, who's very still.

I have one mentor that's still alive today that I called as my real mentors, and that's Dr.

Ron Hawkins.

And we were able to spend some time in our cabin with him recently over the holidays, and he's meant so much to me, especially my spiritual education.

He discipled me as an educator.

When I came back to Liberty, I was under him.

He was the dean of the seminary, and he trained me for two and a half years.

And the next thing I know, I'm the dean of the seminary.

And I didn't even like school.

But anyway, and then I thought about Dr.

John Rollins.

Then I meant just all that he meant to me.

And then I thought about Randy Spencer, who I'm going to see in a few weeks.

That worked for me.

I brought him to Liberty.

And we we set up one of the greatest pastoral training arenas in the country at that time.

To take the academia and the practicality.

We changed the whole thing that you could not go through our seminary at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary without taking internships.

Can you imagine a doctor going to school and then the three and a half years of internship they have to take?

Aren't you glad they do internship?

How would you like to have a brand new graduate operate on you and they've never done a surgery before?

No, not me.

But yet we'll take students and send them through seminary, not give them any practical training, but give them all the theological training, and then send them out there to fight Satan head on and to fight with Sister Fluffyhead and Deacon Potato Head head on with no training.

That's why Word of Life is such a fantastic place to go for the first year or two.

Because it gives the practical as well as the Bible training.

So that's what we did.

And our seminary went from 300 to 4,000.

500 on campus and 35 online in two years.

Why?

Because we were training pastors.

And this is what Paul is saying.

Paul is saying, if you're a Christian, you're going to be exhibiting, you're going to be practicing some things that Christians really practice.

And the first thing is you're thankful about those people that have come before you.

Right now, every one of you that are saved here, you've got to have somebody that you're thankful for that either led you to Christ, brought you to Christ, or you saw something in them that wanted you to come to Christ.

Are you really thankful for them?

Well, you need to tell them.

You need to write them a letter.

Call them.

Do something.

Just tell them you love them and you're thankful for them.

So, we've got to be thankful.

We ought to be a thankful people.

You know what the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5.18, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing.

And now watch what he says.

In everything give thanks.

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5.18.

Are you thankful?

That's what he's talking about here.

Many Christians are very thankful this morning.

I understand that.

But how does one go about cultivating a thankful spirit?

I think the real answer lies in placing Jesus Christ as the center of your sufficiency.

Last week we talked about who, you know, our sufficiency is.

Not I, but say it with me.

But Christ.

Say that with me, church.

Not I, but Christ.

Galatians 2.20.

So we see how exciting this is.

In fact, the secret lies in being satisfied with Jesus.

Remember what Paul said in Philippians 4?

He says, I have learned to be content.

You have to learn to be content.

Did you know that?

I'm 66 years old, and I'm still learning how to be content.

You don't arrive at that.

But Paul said, and you know what Paul said in Philippians 4 there, verses 10 through 13.

He says, hey, I know how to be rich.

He had been rich.

He says, I know how to be poor.

I've been poor.

He says, I know how to be full as far as physically eating.

But he says, I also know how to be hungry.

And he says, but this one thing I do, I forget those things which are behind me, and I reach forth for those things which are before me.

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in and through Christ Jesus.

And then when you go over to 1 Timothy chapter 6, I have that on there for you.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

He talks about.

He talks about that what you brought into this world you're not going to take out.

Folks, listen, I've been to two funerals in the last month.

And I'm here to tell you, there was no U-Haul trailer there at the funeral hall.

They're not taking anything with them.

And he goes on to say, that's why the love of money is the root of all evil.

Not money's the root of all evil, but the love of it.

And those that crave and rush after all the things of the world brings destruction and misery to them.

1 Timothy 6, 6 through 10.

I mean, actually through 12.

So we see our sufficiencies in Him.

He says, I've learned to be content.

Oh, that's awesome.

But there's another application here.

And that is, and I love this, these people were known everywhere for their solid faith and lifestyle.

You ought to be known, CCW ought to be known throughout this community for our testimony.

Are you thankful for your church?

Can I get an amen?

Yesterday I was beaming, just talking to the people there at Chelsea, just them hearing the good things about our church.

That's what we're talking about.

Number two.

Verse 9 again.

Notice what he says.

Every Christian should be committed.

Paul now tells the Romans that he is totally committed to the Lord.

In fact, every word he says I utter, everything I have written, everywhere I go, Paul was a living witness to total surrender.

This certainly explains the reason behind Paul's great success.

I am convinced, listen to me, especially with these young students here.

And I tell our young people this all the time.

If you want to really be totally successful and happy, there is a storybook ending done the storybook way.

And the storybook way is the B-I-B-L-E.

That's the book for me.

Because he says, the book of the law shall not depart out of my mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all, not some, all that's written therein, then shall I make thy way prosperous, then shall thou have success.

Joshua 1A.

So we see, and I wrote this to myself and put a big star, this is worth writing down.

When nothing else matters in your life, if nothing, ooh, this is so good.

When nothing else matters in your life, except what matters to the Lord, you will be successful.

When nothing else matters in your life except what matters to the Lord, you shall be successful.

Now watch this.

That is exactly what Paul meant when he wrote Romans 12, 1 and 2.

I'm convinced.

I beseech you, I beg you, I urge you.

Therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed by this world.

Don't let the world transform you, don't let the world consume you.

But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, by taking the word of God, putting in righteousness, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Is that not good?

That's good, preacher.

That's good.

And that is exactly what Paul meant by being totally committed to the Lord.

Now, look at number three.

Every Christian, look at verse 9 again, every Christian should be prayerful.

The apostle's ministry was primarily two things preaching the gospel.

He said, God forbid if I should not preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the other one was praying.

He had a prayer ministry.

He was a prayer warrior.

Paul had a ministry of prayer.

That is, he made prayer a priority.

And the Roman believers were never taken off Paul's prayer list.

Now, and by the way, I got to thinking about how to pray.

Do you know how we're supposed to pray for each other?

Do you know?

Let's use Paul.

Paul said, follow me.

I want you to see how Paul prayed for people.

In Philippians chapter 1, verses 9 through 11.

Philippians 1:9–11

Listen to what he says.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

I'm in chapter 2, I'm sorry.

Philippians 1, verse 9.

Philippians 1:9

And this I pray, notice what he said, and this I pray, that your love, now watch what he says, may abound yet more and more.

He was praying for your love to increase in the knowledge and in all judgment.

In other words, hey, he prays for your love for God to grow as you study his word, as you grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3.18.

And then look at verse 10.

That ye may, and I love this, that ye may have proved things that are excellent.

In other words, you know what that means?

He's saying that you may, hey, prove those things that are pleasing unto God.

You're doing those things that are right before God.

That's exactly what he's saying.

That's what we pray for each other.

That ye may be what?

Sincere and without offense.

In other words, you're not, you don't have a bad testimony till the day of Christ.

Then he says, being filled, I love this, with the fruits.

He wants you to be a fruit bearer, and you're going to see that in a minute.

The fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.

That's what he was praying for the church at Philippi.

And then when you turn over to Colossians, what real quick, just a few pages over, chapter one, Colossians chapter one, and look at what he says again, verse 9, as he's praying for the church at Colossae.

For this cause, he says, here's why we're here.

We're also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.

And in other words, the day that we heard of your testimony and what God is doing in you and through you, hey, there where God has planted you, Paul said, for this cause also, since the day we heard of your testimony, do not cease to pray for you and to desire.

Now watch what he prays.

That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will.

Ooh, that's good.

That you'll, hey, we ought to pray for each other, that God's will be fulfilled in my life, in your life, and as a church life, our God's will be fulfilled for this church.

Now watch, for word of life, for all the other schools, hey, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

In other words, everything that's done, hey, that God, for everything that the will of God is to be done through us, is seen in the knowledge and wisdom of God.

For God gives wisdom out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 2, 6.

So we see this.

He's praying this for them to grow in the knowledge of God.

Now why?

Watch verse 10.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all.

There's that word, pleasing, bearing what?

Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

And then verse 11, strengthen with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering and joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father.

Wow.

Now that's the way.

You want to know how to pray?

There it is.

Philippians 1, 9 through 12.

Colossians 1, 9 through 12.

That's how we're to pray for each other.

That's how we're to pray for each other.

And that's exactly how Paul prayed.

He prayed.

And what a lesson for the church here.

In fact, he was not selfish.

The Lord would have us to be engaged in a ministry of intercessory prayer, and we got to do that.

We got to learn to pray more and better.

I think God wants his children to be under a prayer burden for others.

Galatians 6 2 says, What?

Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Listen to what he says in verse 10.

As ye have opportunity, listen, as ye have opportunity, what?

Do good to those of the household of faith and to all men as you have opportunity.

Galatians 16.

In other words, the greatest thing we can do for each other is to pray.

The more I've, all these 40 plus years now of ministry, you know what I've learned?

I couldn't do any of this without you.

I couldn't be do anything without you.

And the greatest thing you can do for me as a pastor and your pastors and each other is to pray for us.

And pray those exact things that God would increase our love for God the Father, increase our love for the Word, increase our desire to pray for one another for wisdom and direction and comfort and strength and power to resist Satan and forget those things which are behind and to walk the path of righteousness, reaching forth for God's will for our lives.

That's good.

That's what he wants.

Brings me to number four.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

Look how he follows right into it.

Every Christian should be surrendered to God's will.

Look at verse 10.

In verse 10, Paul in Romans 1 says this.

Look at what he says.

Making request if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

Now, what is he saying here?

Paul was willing to surrender his will to the will of the Lord.

Now, what does that mean?

Paul wanted to come to Rome.

He hadn't gotten there yet.

He's been wanting to come to Rome for over a year.

And in Acts 16, we see that he was wanting to go to three other two to three other places to preach, and the Holy Spirit came upon him and said, No, you can't go there.

You need to go over here to the Macedonians.

There was a Macedonian call.

A lot of times, folks, the will of God can change.

You surrender to the call of God, and then you surrender to God's way, not your way.

I wouldn't be here right now in Chelsea, Alabama, if I had not surrendered to the will of, hey, to the way of God's will instead of my will.

I already had everything planned out.

And it wasn't that I was trying to do it in the flesh either, because I was praying the whole time.

I was praying and things were working out.

I really thought I was doing the will of God.

And then when I came here and David and I met together and we he talked about starting this church, he showed us this area.

Well, it showed us Serpro, and he said, hey, and we just laid everything out.

And I thought to myself, okay, but this is not what I thought the will of God was.

So here's what we'll do.

We'll pray.

And if God's will for me is for me to be here, there's a couple of things he's got to do.

David said, no problem.

We'll pray, he'll do it.

I said, no, but you don't understand.

He's got to do it within a week.

Now, don't you go do that.

That's a fleece.

Not everybody's supposed to put out fleeces.

Hey, seriously now, don't you do that.

Unless God tells you to do that.

But you better be sure God's telling you to do that.

Because here's why.

If you do that, and he does that fleece, if you don't do what he's told you to do, you're in major trouble, guys.

Hello?

So you might not want to put yourself in that position yet.

But long story short, I said you've got to sell my house.

My house has been on the market in Chattanooga for three months.

Hadn't even had a hit.

Hadn't even had a hit.

I pray on Friday, Saturday morning, my neighbor's sister walks around, looks at my house.

She makes a software way off.

She goes back, tells her her sister, her sister comes and looked at the house and said, Oh, this is fine for me and the$3.

You buy a house, we'll buy this house.

Some of them house the next morning.

You said, What'd you do?

I said, honey, where's Chelsea?

We're going.

But God changed everything.

Everything.

Remember what Jesus said?

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, not mine.

In John 4, 34.

And let me show you what God gave me this week.

Oh, I never, I read it, but listen, Jesus is speaking, you know, John 4 is the great verse, my meat's to do the will send me to finish his work.

That's what it said.

But in John 8, Jesus said this.

In John 8, verse 28, he says, I do nothing.

John 8:28

World of life students, listen to this.

This is good for you.

Because I know right now you're in a transition period in your life and finding out and seeking what the will of God is for you.

He says, I do nothing of myself, but, now watch this, as my Father taught me.

In other words, I'm walking with God, I'm spirit-filled, I'm letting the Word of God lead and direct me.

I'm not moving unless I have peace with God through the Word of God and through the counsel of godly people that confirm that, I'm not moving.

But then, notice what he says in verse 29.

I saw this nugget.

I said, whoa! What truth! And here's what he said.

He, then Jesus said, He who sent me is with me.

Now let me tell you something.

When you're walking with God and you're moving in God's way instead of your way, he's with you.

He's with you.

You're in, hey, let me tell you when he's not.

When you decide to go your way, oh, he's there, but he's not leading you anymore.

You're going on your own, and you're subject to trouble.

Now watch.

Watch.

He who sent me is with me, but then it gets better.

The Father has not left me alone.

For I always do take, hey, do the things that please him.

Woo! Woo! What relief.

What a relief it is.

To know that when you're walking with him, doing what he's asked you to do, he's with you, and if you are pleasing him, he will take care of everything.

He'll pay the way.

Now that's good.

And that's what Paul's saying.

And he had for him.

So every Christian should be surrendered to God's will.

Now, number five, every Christian should be usable.

Look at verse 11.

For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gifts to the end that you may be established.

Now, Paul's not saying that he's coming to Rome and give out spiritual gifts.

Because there's only one person that can give out the spiritual gifts, and we know who that is.

That's the Holy Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 11.

He gives, the Holy Spirit gives severally as he wills.

Okay?

And he's not coming to give salvation.

Because only God's grace and only God through Jesus can give salvation.

Do you agree?

So what is he saying?

What he is saying is that I am coming, and this shows you in a minute the next principle we're going to look at about being humble.

Paul just comes and says, God has gifted me to preach the gospel.

That's my ministry.

And I just want to come and be a blessing to you.

Now, folks, listen to me.

When you get saved and you're in your church, God gives you gifts the moment you get saved.

There's no doubt.

How do I know that?

Because the Bible says, for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body.

1 Corinthians 12, 13.

Same chapter where the gifts are.

So not only does he save you, but when he saves you and the Holy Spirit comes up and takes residence in your heart, at that moment he gives you gifts.

Now you already have your talents.

You got your talents when you were created.

And by the way, those talents are wonderful and fearfully made.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

You wake up in the morning, you know what I do?

I wake up in the morning and I just say, wow, man, I'm God's gifts.

I am.

I am.

Somebody may say, Well, you're not looking at what I'm looking at.

It's not outwardly.

It's inwardly.

Now, so now what's here here's what he's saying.

Once you get God's gift, and hey, God wants you to be a blessing to people that you come in contact with.

Can I get an amen?

And how do you do that?

Easily.

By being a servant.

Galatians 5.13.

By love, serve one another.

Jesus put it this way.

That's Galatians 5.13.

Paul said that.

And then Jesus put it this way: He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Matthew 23, 11.

Wow, that's beautiful.

Which brings me.

Hey, to the next point.

Every Christian should be humble.

Verse 12.

Verse 12.

That is that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me.

Here's what he's saying.

Oh, this is so good.

He's saying, he's not being a spiritual, smart ass.

Like, I'm coming.

I'm the best.

I'm the Apostle Paul.

I wrote most of the New Testament.

I can teach you something.

That's what he's saying.

You know what he's saying?

God has given me my gifts.

I want to come and be a blessing to you.

But I also am coming because I want you to bless me.

I want to learn from you.

I mean, you're doing something right because everywhere I go, all I hear about are the Roman Christians.

I want to know what you're doing.

I want to learn from you.

Don't you ever come to the point in your life that you're not willing to be teachable?

Oh God, teach me.

Every morning before I even start studying, oh Lord, teach me.

Lord, teach me.

When I'm mentoring my guys and out on visitation, Rick and David, and I don't give a heck.

Listen to everything.

I'm always, what do you think?

What do you think?

How do you see it?

I want to see their input.

I want to hear their hearts.

I want to see what God's saying through them.

Young people.

Paul said not to despise the youth.

There's things our young people can teach us.

But young people, there's things that we can teach you.

We go, it goes, thank God.

I don't ever want to lose.

Let me tell you something.

I never, never, ever thought my mentors were out of touch.

I didn't care if they were 20 or 30 years older than me.

You know why I knew they weren't out of touch?

Because they were in touch with the Word of God and they were in touch with God.

And I wanted their wisdom.

I wanted to hear.

I'd run it by.

I'm thinking about this.

Even after I took over the Demon Seminary, I didn't have a clue what I was doing.

And I'd call Dr.

Hawkins, Dr.

Paige Patterson, these men of God that had been over seminaries for 30, 25, 30 years, and say, I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about this.

What do you think?

And every once in a while they say, Whoa, that's pretty aggressive.

Because that's the way you thought it'll be.

We ought to be aggressive.

I'm still 66, and I'm still aggressive.

But here's what he's saying.

Every Christian should be humble.

We need each other.

Can I say that?

We need each other.

We have building teams here.

I have a council here.

I don't go in there and say, this is what we're going to do.

No.

No.

I go in and I tell them, this is what I'm thinking.

This is what I think the Lord's laying on my heart.

And I think we need to pray through this.

We need to talk through this.

We need to.

I mean, with a building program, Paul will tell you, we we go by here, no, here, and we just work through it and pray, but we don't move until we agree.

Why?

1 Corinthians 6, 17, he that is joined on the Lord's one spirit.

Amen.

And then number 7, every Christian should be fruitful.

Look at verse 13.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was not able to come, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

In other words, Paul says, I just want to come.

Here's what he's saying.

I want to be able to bear fruit.

I want to be where you are.

It sounds like maybe revival's going on.

There's a lot of things going on there because you're the testimony and the talk of the world at that time.

I want to come and be a part of that.

I want to get in on it.

It's what he's saying.

I want to bear fruit.

Now, when scripture speaks, I thought I've never, you got to understand fruit bearing.

Because, first of all, the baby Christian looks at fruit bearing as you got to win somebody to Christ.

That's fruit bearing.

That's just one part of it, folks.

I'm going to break it down to you.

This is worth writing down.

I didn't put this in because I didn't do it until after I'd done the outline.

But that's okay.

Here it is.

There's three things I want you to say about fruit bearing.

First, it's the idea of attitudes that should be present in the life of every Christian.

These attitudes are represented.

Now let me tell you where these attitudes are represented.

They're represented with the nine character traits of the fruit of the Spirit.

Remember what he said in Galatians 5, 22 and 23?

But the fruit of the Spirit, is it on there?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance against such, there is no law.

Oh, yes, I did.

Thank you.

I did add that.

Steve did get it.

I didn't think he.

All right.

All right, great.

All right, notice the second one.

So that's attitudes.

Then the second idea and fruit bearing is activity.

When a believer lives for the Lord, there will be activity in that life, and fruit will be born for the glory of God.

Now, watch this.

There's three, here's here's what I here's the three things.

Right under number two, you got a little room there.

There's three, uh, three ways this activity is translated.

Number one, holy living, living righteously.

Listen to what he says in Romans 6 22.

Having been set free from sin and becoming slaves to God, you have your fruit to holiness.

Be ye holy in all manner of conversation, for it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy.

1 Peter 1, 15 and 16, Peter said.

Number two, the activity of praise.

Hebrews 13, 15, he says, continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of our lips.

That's why we have great praise and worship here.

And then it's the attitude of addition.

Now, here's where the soul winning comes in.

That's leading people to Christ, bringing people to Christ.

And by the way, let me say this: you don't have to be the one that leads them in the sinner's prayer to be getting the crown of righteousness, the soul winner's crown.

All you got to do is give them a track or invite them to church, invite them to a Bible study, invite them to a youth group, get them under the hearing of the gospel.

And when they hear the gospel, they get saved.

Then you, hey, you've had a part of that.

That's why you invite your lost friends to church all the time.

Or to a Bible study or to have lunch with someone you know that can share the gospel.

Remember, I said we're salt, salt, S-A-L-T, letter S, show love.

Letter A, ask questions.

Letter L, listen.

You can learn a lot by listening.

Some of us talk too much, and I got a few people's names on my mind, but I won't call them.

Me.

You listening?

And then T, turn the conversation to Christ.

Show love.

Ask questions.

Listen, and then turn the conversation to Christ.

Letter T and salt.

That's what the word salt means for a Christian.

That was worth you being here.

Now, and then the third attitude is giving.

Remember the Macedonian Christians?

You remember what Paul said in Philippians 4, 16?

He says, When I was in Thessalonica, you sent me financial help, the Macedonian church.

In fact, they were given to Paul constantly better than anybody else was given to help him.

And listen, when they really didn't have it to give, they still gave to Paul.

Because Paul had so blessed them and birthed that church and brought them to Christ and planted the church in Macedonia.

When he heard the call of the Macedonian.

Paul said about the Macedonian church.

Not that I seek the gift.

I didn't ask for this gift.

But because you've given me this gift, I seek the fruit that abounds towards you.

In other words, when you and I give to our church and we tithe to our church and we give back and we help people, or you give and you help people.

But it was through the Macedonian church.

I hope you got a church that does that like we do.

Wayne was talking about, he's already heard, in seven years we've planted or revived seven churches in Africa, Honduras, Costa Rica.

And that's not counting giving to the convention of our other 5,000 missionaries.

That's hands-on.

Can I get, can we give God the glory?

Amen.

That's what we're talking about.

That's it.

We're to be fruitful.

Number eight.

Every Christian should be obligated.

Look at verse 14.

I am a debtor.

Both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.

As Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, he that you could see he felt a deep debt to those who needed to hear the gospel message.

In Romans 10:1, he said, My prayer for Israel that they all be saved.

Romans 10:1

And he said in Romans 9 3, I would count myself a curse if that's what it would take for all my brothers to be saved.

He is willing to give his life and be a curse.

For his brothers and sisters to be saved.

Wow.

Wow.

May I remind us this morning that we, or you and I, are indebted as well.

We aren't indebted to God for the gift of salvation.

We were given was perfectly a free gift.

But we are, however, indebted to those who are perishing around us.

Paul said, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16, 15.

So we are.

We have that debt.

And how do I discharge this debt?

The only way is for me to tell the world about the Savior.

Can you do that?

Yes.

He said, remember after the church of the New Testament was born?

In Acts 1, what did he say?

You shall receive what?

Power.

After the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And then what did he say?

You shall be witnesses for me, of me, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

So it's very important.

We're obligated.

Do you know you're obligated everywhere God plants you, places you, to be a witness?

To be a witness.

To be real.

Not perfect, but to be a witness.

Again, that's why I love our Jesus' awesome bracelets.

And then, number nine, and we're through.

Every Christian.

Ooh, this is good.

Should be eager.

Eager.

Look at verse 15.

So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach.

Whew! He had the Cain hepets.

He says, as much as is in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also.

Now, watch this.

He tells the Romans that he is ready to go to Rome to preach.

The word ready here means eager.

He's saying, I can't wait until I get to Rome so that I can preach the good news.

In other words, Paul is excited about his call and his commission.

He is an excited Christian.

Now I know you and I understand you.

You don't every Christian don't please don't miss misread me because I'm I'm in that 5% that's crazy.

I understand that.

I am and I do bounce off the wall.

I understand that.

And I am very emotional about whatever I believe in.

People try to get me involved a lot of times in a lot of things, but I don't do it because I'm telling you, when I get involved, you better, hey, leave, follow, or get out of the way.

I have two speeds, wide open and dead.

That's my wife.

You've heard me say it, and I'll say it again.

When we got married, I said, honey, I'm not the best looking.

Don't have any money, but you'll have one of the most exciting lives you've ever lived.

We won't be boring.

In 38 wonderful years, we had not been boring.

Are you excited about Jesus?

You don't have to do like I do.

But in your heart it ought to be so full that you have a smile on your face and you're asking God for opportunities to just be a living testimony of God's grace.

You can do that.

You can do that.

Well, I put this question down as I close.

If we were to describe ourselves, or if you were to describe your life and I would describe my life, would we describe it as one lived in eager anticipation of doing the Lord's will?

I got to thinking about that.

We need this urgency.

We really do.

We really do.

The urgency to follow Christ and to do whatever he calls us.

I want you to listen to a little quote.

I saw this and I made a copy of it, put it in my notes.

God pity the person who thinks they're on an island by themselves.

Before the great missionary, some of you students, I know you've heard of the great missionary to India, William Carey.

Before he boarded the ship to sail to India, he was asked by some of his very closest friends if this was what he really wanted to do.

Now watch what he said.

His reply shows the humility of his heart.

Here's what he said.

Carey said, I would go down into the pit of hell itself if God was holding the rope.

Would you?

Would you grab that rope and just jump?

Knowing you're fixing to go into the flames of fire?

Would you allow, by the way, don't look at me like that.

There was three in the Old Testament that did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed and they go.

They didn't bow, they didn't bend, and bless God, they didn't burn.

God wasn't holding the rope then, he just showed up in the fire.

Notice he didn't deliver them, hey, from the persecution.

He delivered them in the persecution.

Are you eager this morning to serve Jesus?

Are we eager as a church?

You know what I prayed all week?

That our church would have the testimony that the church at Rome had.

They filled Jerusalem with their doctrine.

That's what the Romans were doing, the Roman Christians.

They were filling their Jerusalem with their doctrine.

Can I say something?

It starts at your home.

It can't, hey, flood out into the community if you're not eagerly and excitedly, passionately, eagerly wanting to do God's will for your home and your family.

It's got to start there.

Young people, it's got to start with you.

It's got to start with you.

God got my heart, thank God, at 20.

I was, well actually he saved me at 15, almost 16.

But when I really gave my, I realized what Lordship salvation was.

I already had the Lordship salvation.

I just didn't understand what Romans 12, 1 and 2 meant.

But once I did, Katie barred the door.

Do you have that eagerness?

Are you just going through the motions?

Sunday morning, you ought to be eager to come to church.

Can I get an amen?

You ought to be eager.

I mean, you ought to be almost dead to not be in church.

You ought to.

You ought to be eager to use your gifts to be fruitful.

Starts with the attitude.

Then the activity.

Then the addition.